Electrical switch.



No. 846,120. PATENTED MAB. 5, 1907.

' R. H. MANSON.

ELECTRICAL SWITCH.

APPLiOATION FILED MAR. 81, 1904. RENEWED JAN. 30,1907.

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lnumunm A' z A.

RAY H. MANSON, or ELYRiA, OHIO,

COMPANY, OF ELYRIA, OHIO ASSIGN OR TO THE DEAN ELECTRIC A CORPORATION. OF OHIO.

' ELECTRICAL SWITCH.

Specificationof Letters Patent. Application filed March 31, I904. Renewed January 30,

Patented March 5, 1907. 1901. Serial No. 354,910.

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, RAY H. MANsoN, a

citizen of. the United States, residing at Elyria, in the county of Lorain and State of '0, have invented a certain new and. useful Improvement in Electrical Switches, of I which. the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention relates to electrical switches,

- and has for its object the provision of means whereby certain operating parts may be conveniently detached from and attached to the switch mechanism, as will fully appear from the following specification.

The particular typeof switch which I have selected for illustration and description herein is that known as the long-lever hookswitch, used in subscribers telephone sets.

As Will sufficiently appear from the specific description, the invention may be adapted to various types of switch without changing its essential features. Hence it will be understood that this description is made specific for convenience on y and not for purposes of limitation.

The accepted type of telephone hooksw tch or switch-hook at the present time is that wherein a base or support carries a long lever pivoted at or near one end and provided with a strong actuating-spring normally tending to force the lever upward. The free end of the lever is bifurcated for the purpose of supporting the telephone-receiver,, whose weight, with the leverage afforded, is sufiifcient to 'overcome'the spring and hold the lever down. At some point or points along its length the lever engages contacts whose relations are altered to appropriately change the connected circuits as the hook is moved up and down. The general adoption of this type of switch is due to the necessity for positive action, inasmuch as the operativeness of the modern systems of telephone signaling, as Well as the correct transmission of speech, de-. pends upon reliable and positive action in opening. and closing the several talking and signaling circuits. A strong spring which will not easily acquire a .set or lose its resilience is the first desideratum, and a suiiicient leverage to overcome the spring without unduly increasing the weight of, the receiver' follows as a corollary. In designing such switches some makers assemble the sevsemble the switch as eral partsin the telephone instrument, attaching the contacts or the actuating-spring or the hook-lever or all these parts individually to the telephone-casing. Others asa unit before mounting it in the telephone set, thus securing more uniform adjustmen s and greater convenience in handl ng. Both designs, however, are subject to certain inconveniences and contain certain inherent defects which have heretofore been regarded as unavoidable and which it is my present object to obviate and eliminate. ()f the inconveniences the most salient is that caused by the size of the bifurcated hook, which must project without the instrument-casing while the operating parts are inclosed therein. According to the best practice the hook is assembled as a unit before being mounted, and hence some opening must be provided in the casing large enough to permit either the hook or the opcrating parts to pass through. Where the hook is located below the desk, as in a centralized-energy telephone, the side brackets are frequently divided, one part being hinged to fall away from the other and the opening being 'made for the hook on the division-line. This, however, necessitates a two-part escutcheon. In other cases the opening is made large enough to admit the operating parts and a large one-piece escutcheon is fixed on the frame. The long lever is'separable and can conveniently be inserted after the operating parts have been attached, the latter being applied from the inside, if desired.

Of the defects the most obj ectionable is the constant protrusion of the book from the instrument at all times, making it liableto injury in handling and shipping and rendering it necessary to increase the size of packingcases and other receptacles, as well as to exercise great care in securing the instruments. therein for storage or shipment. I call this a defect, because it is inherent in the primary design of a switch of this character. So far as 1 know all hooks heretofore used have had fixed levers with constantlyrojecting ends, and While it might be possib e to unship the levers at the pivots such unshipping would involve the use of tools and usually the reassembling of all.parts when the instrument came to be used. By my present invention the hook is removed Without the use of tools when the instrument is not in use, leavingthe switch parts proper intact, and when 're-.

'quired is as easily replaced.

Stated in brief, my invention comprises a frame carrying ashort or stub lever pivoted in the usual manner and engaged by the usual strongactuating-spring and the contact-springs, together with a long-lever. having a shank adapted to be conveniently latched and held by spring-pressure on the stub and carrying the bifurcated hook at its" extremity. 1t will-be understood that the.

terms long? and f short as here used arev relative merely The'stub may be of any convenient length, likewise the hook-lever,

and various forms of both maybe devised, according'to the uses to which they are to be applied. In a wall set the long leverwould case the hook would be separable.

be straight, as herein shown; In a desk set it might be a bell-crank or curved; butiir any.

' 'Iy invention is-iIluStrated'in panying drawing, wherein Figure '1 is a side'view of the complete switch with separable lever. Fig. 2 is a simithe accomin view with the contact-springs removed.

Fig. 3 is a perspective viewof the stub-lever removed, and 1g. 4 1s a erspective view of one end of the long or 1100 lever. q

i I member a.

riveted to the extended end of the member a,

,so that accidental displacement s impos sible.-

' portion'h, notehedas shown at 71 ,pointremovedacertaindistancefromt end H is a stub-lever, in whichjl form an upper notch h and a lower notchjh. The upper side of one end is inclined, as shown at h, and the lower portion of the same, endis turned over to forma finger 7L7. The opposite end is turned over and-slotted to form a fork h The stub is mountedon the framemember'a by slipping it under thehead' oi the post P, with the in in thenotch h.- The' springlS is then p ace in the position shown in Figs. 1 and '2 and'securedto the flange a by the screws 8', its free end lying in the notch h of thej'st'ub. The spring when in' thisgposition.

vis under tension, and itsendtends to forcethe stub upward, preventing it fronrleavin the ivot p, and as the notch h is displace to t e left of thenotch'hfalso tending to throwthe-:endh of the stub 'np'against the e a, which acts-as a stoproria T e lever H, which baskets refined to as the long lever or. separable cipher lever,

carriesthe hook it at one nd, at the other end h of its straight shank it has a-rjedueed t a another notch h 'is prodnced'between two spring is also moved than:

projectingteeth, that on the right, 72 hav ingits outer face inclined, and the bottom of the notch being substantially in'the sameline as the lower side of the lever.

' The mode ofattaehing the lever H" to the stub is indicated in Fi Q 2. lever H is inserted t rou h the slot in the escutcheon A, passed bacdiwardly over the latch-finger h, and finally brought to rest with the notch h 'on the pivot p, the reduced fiat part b lying under the head of the post P and u on the, stub. The parts are so proportione that as .sprin S forces the stub up- Wardly the latter wifi forcethe lever H up, and the latter willstrike the top of the slot in the escutcheon before the face h strikes the fla e a. thelever moves into position the inclined face of the tooth h7 rides down the. finger 1h? a' ainst the pressure of the spring,'.andthe a ger finally snaps into the notch h, preventing the withdrawal of the lever. The lever is thus latched and is securely held againstall attempts that maybe The end h of the a made to remove it by moving the hook it.

. 'lessforcibly depressed, and as the limit of the lever movement is determined by the escutcheon-slot unlatchin from wi.thout,,intentional or unintentional, is impossible. unlatch from within the'casing, however, is but the work ofan instant; The pressure of a finger on the part b moves the latter out of its notch, when the lever H maybe pulled out through the escutcheon. .The contact- .spring's s, carried on a removable block S, se-

cured to the flange a, are moved and their relations changed-by the fork it on the stub.

' This fork receives at it the insulated end s of anintermediate longsprin and as it is moved on the pivot p by the I to make and break therespective contacts. It will 'be observed that the relation of the springs and .the fork of the stub and, in fact, the relations of all the parts'o'f the'switch which require adjustment for proper operation remain unchanged by the withdrawalofthe lever or its replace mentg It is now apparent. that I have succeeded in'attainingmy objects without the sacrifice 'of a single meritorious feature of the regular long lever-hook. Telephonesprovided with my switch-hook may be packed and shipped lever H the without danger of breakage of hooks or dis;

switches finished and adjusted with still greater certainty than before. I- believe I arrangement of contacts and in smallerboiiesli ieretofore, and handling in the factory is simplified. The hooks themselves may be packed more. readily and the assembled applications; but

parts, such as handles and levers, requiring no tools and no tedious mechanical operations to take them off or to reassemble them, and I shall claim the same broadly herein.

I am aware that many changes may be made in matters of detail without sacrificing the distinguishing features of my invention, and some of these changes I shall embody in specific forms which I shall claim in separate all such are intended to be included within the scope and purview of the claims in the present case. 0

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, isi 1'. An electrical switch'comprising a base or support, an operating-stub pivoted thereon, contact members controlled bysaid stub, an inclosure for said base, contacts and stub, and a lever lying partly within and partly Without the inclosure, together with. means detachably connecting the lever and stub,

said means operable for connection from without the inclosure, but for disconnection operable only within the same, substantially'as described. I

2. An electrical switch comprising a base, contact devices mounted thereon, an operating member for said contact devices, a springlatch normally holding said member in oper ative position, and ahook-lever detachably engaging said operating member and having movement relative to said operating member. i

3. An electrical switch comprising a base or support, contact members mounted thereon, an operating-lever therefor removably pivoted to the base, and an extension-lever connected to said operating-lever but manually detachable therefrom, substantially as described said extension-lever and said operating-lever being capable of relative movement'. y

4. A telephone hook s-witch comprising the following instrumentalities: a frame 'or support, a set of contact-springs mounted thereon, a short lever pivoted thereon and connected with said springs to alter the relations thereof in its movements, a long lever carrying a receiver-hook at one'end and adapted to engage the short lever at the other end with a latch connection, substantially as de-' scribed. i

.5. A telephone hook-switch comprising a frame, contact members and a pivot-post immovably mounted on said frame, an operating-lever adapted to detachably engage said post and to actuate said contact members in its movements, a hook-lever adapted to move said operating-lever, and a springlatch operatingin conjunction with said operatingdever to holdsaid hook-lever in position.

6. A telephone hook-switch comprising the following instrumentalities: a frame com- 1 pivot-post P thereon, a

posed of a longitudinal member having a pivot-post atone end, and a transverse member secured thereto at the other end, contactsprings carried by said longitudinal member,

a short lever pivoted on said crating with said springs, an actuatingspring for said lover, a long lever extending through the transverse member of the frame and to the pivot-post, and a latch connection between the levers controlled by the actuating-spring, substantially as described.

7. A telephone hook-switch comprising the following instrumentalities: a frame, two limiting-stops on said frame, a pivot-post also thereon, a short lever pivoted on said post and limited in movement by one stop, a long lever also pivoted on said post and having a shorter path of travel due to the other stop, together with an integral latch-finger carried by the short lever and atshoulder engaged thereby on the long lever; substantially as described.

- 8. A telephone hook-switch comprising the following instrumentalities: a frame, a short actuating-lever thereon and contact-springs controlled thereby, a detachable long lever adapted to be engaged with the short lever to form an extension thereof, and a spring-catch adapted to maintain the same in engagement, substantially as described.

post and coop- 9. A telephone hook-switchcomprising the following instrumentalities: an escutcheonplate, a su porting-frame projecting from and carried by said plate, contact-springs se cured to said frame, a detachable operatinglever adapted to be extended through said:

eseutcheon-plate into operative engagement with said springs and a latch for maintaining the same normally in engagement, substantially as described.

10. In a telephone hook-switch, the combination with'a frame and contact members carried thereby, of a fixed pivot-post on said frame, an operating-lever for said contact members detachably held on said pivot-post, an extension-lever detachably engaging said 0st and said operating-lever, and means for olding said levers on said post and for hold- -1ng said operating-lever in engagement with said extension-lever.

11. A telephone hook-switch comprising the following instrumentalities: a frame A, a flange on said frame and contact-springs 8 carried thereon, a lever H pivoted on said post, a forked member'h on said lever engaging one of said s rings, a latch-finger k at the other end of t e lever, and a separate overlying lever H having the termina notch h to engage the pivot and a notch h to engage the finger it, together with an actuating-spring exerting upward pressure on the lever H, substantially as de-. scribed.

12. In a telephone hook-switch, the combination with a base and contacts mounted thereon, of an operating-lever pivoted to said I ment with the first member and-Working on 10 base and controlling said contacts, and an the same pivot, substantially as described. actuating-lever slipped into en agement with In testimony whereof I aflix my signature said operating g-lever 1and 11 218.511) gegiovable in presence of two Witnesses; 1 therefrom, su stantialy as escri e 13. In a. telephone hook-switch, the com- MANSON binationwith a base, of a two-part hook-l- Witnesses; ver comprising a member pivoted to the base E. W.-B RACKETT, and a second member slipped into-engege- W. DEAN.' 

